Just This Once, Everybody Lives!
by MadCatta
Summary: The Five just saved the world, allowing it to heal and flourish thanks to them. Shouldn't they get to live, happy and alive in this world? Yes, they should. And are you really saying the Gatekeepers are able to destroy the epitome of evil itself, but can't defy something as paltry as death?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, I needed to write this. I could do it properly, like write out a first draft and edit and all that shebang, but I have literally no plans for this story. I just need to write it. **

* * *

They'd saved the world. Jamie stares around, at the people who appear misplaced, unsure what to do now the world is… what, normal?

Richard stumbles up to them, looking older than he's ever looked. He salutes, but Jamie looks past him, looks past Holly who's staring in awe, looks to Scott's…

He looks to Scott, broken and gone on the ground. Sure, there's Flint next to him. Flint, who's not Scott. Flint's staring, incredulous.

He shrugs when Jamie looks at him. "That's me," he explains.

"No, it's not," Jamie says rudely, and strides off to kneel by Scott. Bloodied and broken, he died to save the world.

Scarlett joins him, a cool hand on his shoulder. "He wanted you to know, that if he didn't get to talk to you, he was doing it for you. To see you, again."

Jamie blinks back tears. Dying to see Jamie again, yeah, that's Scott completely. Sentimental dumbass.

Matt and Richard join them minutes later, carrying Matt's body. It's hard to look at it, so destroyed. Richard's crying silently, but he smiles weakly when Jamie looks at him. Jamie looks at Matt, their leader, sensing he's something to say. Matt doesn't say it until Flint and Pedro have joined their group,

"Our books end when the Old Ones die," he says, looking pensive. Not everyone understands what he means, so he continues. "I used to think that meant it was the end for us, that we enter the dreamworld one last time, and stay there forever. But there's blank pages at the end of the books, as many books have in publication. Our books, our stories, they matter. Everything about them has a purpose, and even your Matt's book has more free pages, and it leads me to think…"

Matt turns to Flint. "We can go back, and rebuild our world. Set in motion everything which must be, and live peacefully from then on out. But what if the Power of the Five is more than we ever thought?" he looks around the group and then to the bodies on the floor. "What if we have the power to resurrect?"

Silence follows his words, before Flint shakes his head. "You're telling me you think we can bring people back to life?"

"When we're as the Five, I believe so, yes."

"What, so they get their Five? What happens to us?"

"What happens in this world may well happen in the other world."

It seems to satisfy Flint.

All the while, Jamie's hardly breathed. He understands what they're getting at, but it's too… it's too much. With Scott lying dead next to him, despite Flint being close by, his mind is cold.

Matt turns to Pedro. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Pedro?"

Pedro nods his head.

"The force will come from you, and the power from us. I suggest we try Scott, first, because if he comes back, Flint will go, and –" he breaks off, colouring slightly.

Flint nods. "Yeah, you're more powerful than me."

Scarlett's hand is still on Jamie's shoulder. He should pull himself together, because the quicker they start the action, the quicker Scott might… but this cold in his mind, it's worse than anything he's ever experienced.

They stand in a circle, Flint to his right, Scarlett to his left. Both reach down and take one of his hands, encouraging him to stand. Jamie stands. They circle around Pedro, and the bodies of the fallen Five. Pedro's nervous, but he kneels beside Scott and bows his head.

Jamie doesn't want to hope, but he can't help himself. And, when the hope comes, Jamie starts to feel the power flowing.

The world moves around them. There's no time, in this bubble they've created. No time, no sensations of any kind, only the power.

The power, and the hope.

And the, as warmth starts to return to Jamie's frozen mind, the warmth on his right vanishes, and they all stagger as the circle is broken.

No one moves, no one breathes, as the power continues, as if Flint hadn't left. The energy is spent, when Matt leaves, and Jamie blacks out.

* * *

**Reviews for 'Home' replies:**

**BLC: Yooooooooooooooooooooo how u doing babes? Yeah I moved to spn fandom woops and I thank u xx cait**

**Lollipopwentpop: Waaaaaaaah thank you! I love how people are like welcoming my return? it makes me feel mega cool i'm so honoured wow. Really glad u enjoyed, wow u are cute xx cait**

**Fangirl-of-heavenly-fire: I'M BLUSHING AWWWW YOU'RE SO SWEET I LOVE U GUYS SO MUCH srsly what a cute lil fandom is PO5 i love it xx cait**

**Readersally: I'm glad you liked, thanks for reviewing xx cait**

**Righty ho, do expect this to be updated but don't hold me to anything because I'm like insanely into SPN rn and so am more involved writing for that oops sorry folks (but y'all should totally hmu on tumblr I'm deantakesitinthecas) xx Cait**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is eventually gonna turn into a curtain verse sort of thing with one shots n stuff rather than a proper story given there's utterly no plot other than "they're alive n happy"**

**Thanks for all the positive responses to the first chap!**

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Jamie wakes up with a dry, sticky mouth, and a painful headache. Holly's leaning over him, looking worried, but he pushes her aside. Scott's chest rises and falls, by only a tiny amount, but it does. Pedro sits beside him, hand on his moving chest, other on Matt's moving chest. He looks exhausted, Jamie feels for him but Scott's breathing.

He's alive.

Scott and Matt have been wrapped up in blankets and furs, in the time that Jamie was out. Good; his brother had been only wearing a shirt and pants, lying on the freezing snow. Jamie reaches out to touch his skin… warm.

He can't quite believe it. He turns to Pedro, aware he's crying.

Pedro smiles wearily. He nods, and that's all there is to say.

"The doors are in order, still?" That's Richard, looking unable to take in the situation. He seems to be dealing with it by taking charge, ignoring that Matt's alive now.

Scarlett shrugs. "I guess."

"We don't want to stay here too long," says Richard. He's right, it's fucking freezing.

"There's no resources, we need hospitals and food…"

Jamie shakes his head. "We can't leave all these people here, just abandoning them." He clutches for Scott's wrist, holding it tight. His pulse thumps through Jamie's fingers, slow but steady.

"But we can't stay." Richard shakes his head. "Look, you guys are all exhausted. I'll ask around, see if there's somewhere we can sleep for the night, and then work out what's going on tomorrow." He walks off.

"Can you get into Scott's head?" Scarlett asks. "He knows the place. Maybe he'll know something…"

Jamie's afraid. Scott's mind hasn't been open to him for a long time.

"What if…" Pedro pipes up, and then stops talking. He shakes his head when they look at him, but Jamie can guess what he's worried about.

What if Scott's not how Jamie wants him to be?

Jamie scowls at Pedro, even though the question is more than valid.

"He wasn't in his right mind," Jamie mutters.

Scarlett looks as if she has something to say, but she doesn't say it. Good; Scott died for them. Richard returns, with Holly in tow, and news.

"The Old Ones being dead, all of their – uh, creatures? The fire things and the fly soldiers, they're all gone too. The humans they enslaved are either dead or dying, from injuries or other things. The rest of the world doesn't really know what's been going on, but I've made contact with the Nexus and there's gonna be a broadcast about what's been going on, and ships and planes sent here to get us out." He stops, casting a glance to Scott and Matt. "Your choices are, to stay here and wait until everyone is given refuge, or go through the doors and take your chances in a different country."

"It's a state everywhere," Jamie says. "I was in Britain, and there were cannibals and pockets of civilisation…"

"Yeah," says Holly. "It's not great over there."

"Where I was, it was hard," says Pedro. He shrugs. "Maybe everywhere is bad."

Richard and Scarlett both nod.

"So, what do we do?" asks Scarlett.

The boy knelt on the floor healing Jamie's twin brother is called Pedro. He can heal. The boy who isn't Jamie's twin brother is Matt, who can… do a lot of things. And then there's Scott, telepathic like Jamie, and Scarlett, who controls the weather.

Holly commits it to memory. She follows Scarlett and Richard away from the others and out to where the people are. Slowly, Richard is able to get help for them to build a hut kind of structure around Scott, Matt, Pedro and Jamie. Holly's freezing, but there are blankets and furs being passed around, and they give as much help as they can but there isn't much to be done. Either people are healthy and helping, or dying. Finally, they stop walking, and sit down together cuddled up in blankets.

"What happened?" Richard asks Scarlett hoarsely. "The last thing I know, Scott's betraying Matt, and Matt's begging me to kill –" he breaks off, shuddering.

"The thing that stopped the doors was here," Scarlett explains. She turns to Holly. "Holly, you know there are 25 doors around the world that mean it's possible for the Five to travel?"

Holly nods. "Jamie explained it to me."

"Okay, well they stopped working because the King of the Old Ones blocked off the one here, meaning someone would have had to die to open it."

"And that's what Scott did?" asks Richard.

Scarlett nods.

"So he must have lost some of their influence to do that, right?"

"He did it for Jamie," Scarlett says simply. "He used his power on me and Lohan… I guess he knew we'd try to stop him."

Holly remembers Jamie's power. Telling people what to do… she shudders.

Scarlett turns to Holly. "What's it like?" she asks. "England, I mean."

Holly shrugs. "Hard to say, I mean, it's basically all I've ever known. Difficult, I guess. We had this village and everyone looks out for each other, but there's little electricity and food is hard to find, same with clothes, family…"

Scarlett blinks. She and Richard look incredulous. "It's only been ten years," she says, horrified.

Holly shrugs. "I had this thing, a playstation. I always wanted to use it, but we could never use the electricity."

Scarlett closes her eyes. "I miss my Xbox so much."

"I just want my bed," remarks Richard.

"You both used to live in England?" Holly asks.

They both nod, fond expressions on their faces, and start to tell her about the England they knew.

Scott wakes up first. Jamie wakes as soon as he does, sitting up to attention and reaching for Scott's hand. He feels the consciousness touching his mind, he can see the reflection of the warm fire in Scott's eyes, and then they fall closed and Scott is asleep again.

It alights something in Jamie. Hope.

He can't stop grinning the next day, keeping his mind very open in case he can feel Scott awaken again as he goes about, trying to help people. There have been airplanes and helicopters in and around the area to help people and remove them already, and a few of the private jets in the landing strip of Oblivion have been hijacked for better purposes. After a long day helping people and planning out to leave the next day, Jamie enters their hut to see Matt's pale face smiling at him.

"Jamie," he greets weakly. "Good to see you."

Jamie grins. "We did it!"

Matt blinks slowly, looking half dead. "Scott was awake earlier, for about ten minutes. According to Pedro, he's got more internal damage than me." He shrugs.

"Where is Pedro?" asks Jamie. Pedro rarely leaves the hut where his charges lie.

"Told him to get some air. Sounds like he's been cooped up in here a long time."

Jamie nods. Holly comes in after him, dropping onto the floor and curling up in a blanket. "I'm so fucking tired," she says, and then her eyes open wide. "Oh, wow. Matt?"

Matt waves from his makeshift bed. "You must be Holly. Hi."

"Hi," says Holly, grinning. "I'm pleased you're awake."

"So was I," says Matt. "But now I'm not so much. I think I'm gonna pass out if I don't get to sleep." He rolls over and apparently falls straight to sleep.

"How's Scott?" asks Holly.

"He woke up earlier," says Jamie. "Matt told me." Jamie's annoyed at himself for not being around when Scott woke, and he takes up a vigil at Scott's side once more. It's less of a deathly sleep and more of his brother's usual deep sleeping, with heavy breaths and usual jerks and flinches he's had since Nightrise.

It soothes Jamie.

He grins at Pedro when he returns, looking completely exhausted.

"I think you need some rest," Holly says, eyeing him suspiciously. "You look like you're gonna keel over."

Pedro sinks gratefully to the floor. "When are we leaving?" he asks.

"Tomorrow," Holly replies. "Flying first to Chile and then to London. Richard says your friends, the Nexus, are trying to sort out arrangements for you guys… I guess I'll be able to go home after that."

Jamie looks up. "Oh. I forgot."

Holly pulls a face. "I mean, I can't imagine there's anyone still there, but..."

"You can stay with us," Jamie offers quickly.

Holly shrugs. "Thanks, Jamie, but I want to see the village. Maybe I'll change my mind after that."

Scott rolls over, breathing heavily.

"You guys are all just gonna live together?" Holly asks Jamie.

"I guess," Jamie replies. "Me and Scott haven't got any family, Matt's are dead, Scar's are dead, Pedro's are dead. Gonna need to stick close right now, given Matt and Scott kind of need Pedro."

Holly nods. "What happened to Matt?"

Jamie pulls a face. "Uh – it's kind of horrible. As you saw, when one of us dies, we're replaced by our past selves. Chaos, the king of the Old Ones, wanted to torture Matt and keep him captive, but not let him die, else he'd be replaced by his past self. Richard killed him with a special knife – like, it can stay hidden. From basically everything, it's really cool actually. So, yeah. Richard killed him, to save him from fuck knows how much torture."

Holly nods again. "Shit. Sucks to be you guys."

Jamie snorts.

_Jamie…_

Jamie stiffens and turns. Scott's lying on his side, looking at him with heavy lidded eyes.

_It's good to see you,_ says Scott, in Jamie's head.

Jamie swallows, hard. He's quick to slip into Scott's head, but Scott shakes it slightly. _Don't._

Jamie nods. _How are you?_

_I don't know. Confused. Tired._ His eyelids flutter. An image of a small stuffed monkey flicks through Jamie's head - he recognises it, but can't place it. He's about to ask but Scott's already asleep again.

Tears sting at Jamie's eyes again. Happy, this time, and he wipes at them.

Scott's voice in his head again, quiet and sleepy. _Baby._


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo. Okay this is getting a bit of a plot and so it might actually be a thing with a plot omg. **

**Probably a very Scott angst centric plot. No regrets. **

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"We're not spending long in London, sorry," Richard tells them in the morning. "It's a nuclear wasteland. All…" he bites his tongue, about to grieve the loss of London's architecture and culture. Not as important as the world, currently. "Maybe England isn't best."

Scarlett shrugs. "We've got the doors. They're still working, then." She pauses, biting her lip. "I kind of want to head to Australia, at some point. My mum is there… maybe. If I'm lucky. I guess it's unlikely, given none of us have family left."

Jamie frowns. "Speak for yourself," he says, clapping a hand on Scott's shoulder. Scott makes a noise, not wanting to wake. "How's the US?"

Richard shrugs.

"I guess we could go check them out," Jamie says, looking around at his friends. "When Scott and Matt are better, go through the doors and check the place out."

"Is that really for the best?" Richard worries his lip. "You know, I really don't think I can handle much more mess from you guys… if you're all wandering off in different directions at once, I will kill-" he breaks off quickly, face paling.

Jamie looks away.

"He wanted you to," points out Pedro, but it doesn't seem to appease Richard.

"And he's alive now," says Jamie.

"And awake," mutters Matt irritably.

"How are you feeling?" Richard asks.

"Tired. And cold. And like I want a real bed."

"Don't," says Scarlett quickly. "Don't remind me of all the things we don't have."

Scott is awake. Jamie can tell by the way he lays just that bit too still, the careful breathing. He's pretending to be asleep, and Jamie doesn't know why. Perhaps he's ashamed, remembering what he's done. Perhaps he's just tired and wanting to still be asleep. He can't pretend for much longer, as they're moving onto England shortly.

They decide not to use the doors for the present, as most of them are likely to be known by the enemy, and even if the Old Ones are gone, there's still the chance that their supporters are not.

Lohan enters their tented area. Jamie's not seen him much, hardly knows who he is, doesn't trust him that much either, but Richard and Scar seem to trust him. That's enough for Jamie; he smiles at Lohan.

Lohan nods. "It sounds that there's nothing for me in China," he says. Jamie can't read his emotion.

"Nothing for anyone anywhere," replies Richard. "A lot seems to have happened in the ten years."

Ten years. Jamie wonders about the McGuires, Alicia and Danny. Danny's older than him now, which is a strange thought. He hopes they're alive. It's strange – he'd known Alicia for only a week or so, but he feels more affection towards her than for any of his foster parents.

He'll find her, Jamie resolves. Find out what happened to her, to Danny, to the other children taken by Nightrise.

"Jamie, you coming?" Scarlett reaches a hand down to him and he lets her pull him up, and they make their rounds.

Holly grabs his arm as he goes to leave, stopping him. "Jamie – are you okay?"

He smiles at her. "I'm awesome."

"Your brother just died and now he's back to life… are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be better when he's better."

"Do you think he's going to be okay?"

Jamie sighed. "I'm worried… but I've been worried about him for a while, now. He wasn't himself before he got taken, he wasn't himself after and now… He's pretending to sleep, he won't connect with me." He shakes his head. "Pedro will help." Jamie turns away before Holly can ask any more questions, off to follow Scarlett.

Back in their tent, Matt's tired of his place in bed. He sits up, and then swings his legs around to stand, but Pedro holds out an arm. "Wait," he says. "You're not healed."

Matt brushes him aside. "I'm okay." In truth, he doesn't feel strong or like he could walk far, but lying around here isn't helping anyone. He casts a glance to Scott, motionless in his sleep. They have a lot to talk about.

"I'm going to join Jamie and Scarlett," Matt says.

Richard, who's been leaning against a pole supporting the tent with his arms crossed, steps forward. "Matt – come on. You need your rest."

Pedro too shakes his head. "I don't think that's best."

"Half an hour won't kill me," replies Matt, and he doesn't miss Richard's flinch. "Go look after Scott," he tells Pedro.

Pedro opens his mouth, as if to say something but then thinks better of it. He sighs and sits down nearer Scott. It's apparent that Matt's not the only person who needs a conversation with Scott.

Richard follows Matt out.

"I don't need a babysitter," says Matt, in good humour.

Richard scoffs and holds a hand out to support Matt as he stumbles. "In a couple of hours we'll get out of this ridiculous weather."

"Is London really a nuclear wasteland?"

Richard shrugs. "Guess you'd better ask Jamie, he was the one who was there."

"Can't believe it was only last year I was getting arrested," says Matt, shaking his head.

"Eleven years ago," Richard points out. "God, I haven't even thought about my parents."

Matt glances at him. In truth, he'd forgotten that Richard had a life outside of this. "We can ask the Nexus for news."

"Yeah," Richard nods.

Matt stops their slow walk, feeling dizzy. Richard looks at him, concerned, and takes off the blanket draped over his shoulders and puts it over Matt's. "Come on, we're going back."

"There are people here who've been hurt because of us. I have to-"

"Have to what, Matt? What is it exactly you'll do? You've already died for this, we're gonna go back and you'll get some rest."

Matt felt too weak to protest. On the return, there was no difference in the tent other than Scott having turned away from all of them, still sleeping by the looks.

"We should probably wake him up soon – we're leaving in a few hours."

They let Jamie do the honours – on his return, he thumps Scott in the shoulder. Scott swears at him.

"We're leaving soon," Jamie tells him.

It's strange how the last time they were together, Matt would rarely hear the two talk. They'd communicate with their powers instead.

Scott sits up unwillingly, pale and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Pedro moves away from him over to Matt and – yeah, there's a lot of tension between Scott and Pedro.

Scott's face is still bruised, although probably so is Matt's. Scott looks dazed, compared to the rest of them, and dressed in his finer clothing he seems to be apart from them.

Which has always been a part of the problem with him.

They're bundled on the plane, not long later. Matt's supported by Richard, and Scott by his brother, but the hurt and wounded are the first on the planes. Matt sleeps most of the journey, including the hour layover where they're refuelled. It's strange, the flight is so similar to the flight he'd been on to Macau not long before, yet ten years previously. All of this change and a flight filled of wounded soldiers, and there's still air hostesses wandering the cabins – if wearing whatever clothes they could find rather than a set uniform. They don't even go to London as officials don't want to risk the radiation, and end up in Birmingham. From there, people are sorted out into those who need help and those who can help, the young who've lost their family and the ones who no longer have a home.

The Five are met quickly by the Nexus, looking so much older than their last meeting, and it's red headed Natalie who meets them. They're famous, now they've saved the world, and are approached by many people as they disembark the airplane. Scott's not said a word, his head has been lolling against the window of the airplane the entire flight. Not that any of them have been chatty, leaving Antarctica finally.

There's a couple of cars to take them to their new location, because the Nexus always has money. It's Matt, Richard, Pedro and Scarlett in the one car, and the four others following. It's a long drive north, and Matt falls asleep and finds himself in a very familiar place.

And with that, some familiar faces. There's Jamie, who raises his hand, talking with Holly.

"What – what are you doing here?"

Holly shrugs.

"We don't know. Guess maybe now there's no purpose of this place, the rules for getting in aren't so tight?" Jamie shrugs.

And then Matt blinks – and Richard joins them.

"Richard?"

Richard looks at him, frowning. "Is this a dream?" he pinches his thigh and frowns.

"It's the Dreamworld," Jamie tells him.

Richard blinks a few times and then sits down in the grey sand. "So this is where you all go when you're sleeping, then?" he asks, sounding dazed.

"Sometimes," replies Matt.

"Do you have any control of when you come here?" asks Holly.

Jamie shrugs. "Recently, I've been coming most of the time I'm asleep. But Scott's rarely here… I mean, he's asleep right now. Or pretending to be."

Richard and Matt exchange a glance.

"How's he doing?" Richard asks.

Jamie wears the usual irritated expression as he used to, when they'd imply Scott was less than trustworthy. "I don't know. Different. Hey – Matt? What's it like? Dying, I mean."

"Like falling asleep, I guess," says Matt. "Albeit painfully, but then it was like I was sleeping until I woke up again." He doesn't really know what to say.

"It's strange here," says Richard, looking around. "What have you guys come across?"

"First time we were here – me and Scott – we were here with Scarlett and on this island, and I think you and Pedro were making your way over to us in a boat. But that was years ago, we must've been about seven, eight. Nothing else really until Scott got taken, and then it was just me alone on the island. And then all of us together."

"There was a library…"

"The library is over the hill," says Matt, pointing over. "It chronicles every life, it's how I knew what I had to do and what Scott would do."

"So we can read everyone's life story?" Holly raises her eyebrows. "Cool."

He could tell her about reading your own torture, your own death, but he doesn't.

He doesn't have a chance anyway – Matt opens his eyes, as the car rolls to a halt.

Scott isn't really talking. He's subdued, not that that's strange for him but he's remote. He's always so distant, and Jamie hates it. He's lying on his back on the bed in their safe house, not quite asleep yet not quite awake.

This sucks. This really sucks. Less than a week ago Jamie was sobbing over his brother's dead body and now he lies there, alive, but he might as well be –

Jamie throws a pillow at Scott and walks out of the room, angry suddenly.

Scott doesn't respond.

Pedro's on the sofa when Jamie gets downstairs.

"Can you fix him?" Jamie demands, not caring that the room is almost full. The only missing person is Lohan, and no one knows where he is.

Pedro frowns. "Scott?"

"Yeah."

"He does not like me very much," Pedro says, lowering his eyes.

"He doesn't – dislike you," splutters Jamie, but Pedro fixes him with an unimpressed stare. "Okay – Pedro, he's pissed. He's angry, like all the time and has been for ages – hell, he doesn't like any of us. Not even me half the time.

"Maybe he doesn't want my help."

Jamie blinks. "What? Why wouldn't he?"

Pedro scowls, because he can't articulate what he wants to say. "He's… I think sometimes he does not want to be helped."

"Recently? Or before Oblivion?"

"Before," Pedro sighs. "I cannot help if he doesn't want help. I do not understand the pain. He said to me that he did not feel part of us. Separate."

"What are you saying? You can't fix him?"

There's a loud outburst from the doorway. "What the hell, Jamie?" Scott's cheeks are dark with anger.

Jamie whirls around, taken by surprise. "I'm just trying to help you," he begins.

"Fuck you," Scott spits. "The stick insect is right, I don't want your fucking help. Not from any of you."

"Scott, calm down," Richard starts, but Scott's already stalking out of the room. They hear the sound of the door slamming. The front door. Jamie swears and sits down.

"Your brother seems great," Holly offers to lighten the atmosphere, and Jamie flips her off.

He follows Scott, aware that neither of them know the local area at all. Still, it's not hard to find him. Ignoring their connection, Jamie knows Scott better than he knows himself.

Scott hides in crowds, where he's innocuous and – if necessary – he can listen to the whirring brains of other people, and not his own. But where does one find crowds in post apocalyptic England?

Where you always find people. Jamie finds a bar, with people filling the place inside and out. No – it's called a pub, actually. There's lots of people, cheering and jolly and merry in ways they've not been for years.

Jamie slips through the crowd unnoticed, finding Scott leaning against the outside wall.

"There aren't any grocery stores, but there's a bar open already?" mutters Scott.

"Pub," Jamie corrects.

"What's the difference?"

"Kids are allowed?"

Scott shivers. He always seems to be cold nowadays. "C'mon, let's go back," says Jamie.

Scott pushes off the wall and lets himself be led by Jamie back to the house.

He tries it – connecting with Scott again. Scott almost let him, Jamie can feel a soft influx of his brother's emotions, namely anger and doubt. But it's just a hint, just a look in. Scott won't let much more.

"Well?" demands Scott suddenly.

Jamie pulls an innocent expression. "Dude – I just think it could help if you spoke about it or something. I don't know…"

"I'm not gonna," says Scott. "I can't."

Jamie nods.

Scott's struggling to speak for the rest of the walk home. He grabs Jamie's arm, moments from the house.

"It's just –" he starts, and then breaks off. "Jamie, I don't want…" he shakes his head. "Forget it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Yo. How's it hanging? Heads up, I'm totally writing another PO5 story set five years on from this one i guess - ie, five years on from Oblivion but Scott and Matt alive and all just chilling in the real world. With an OC who's madly in love with Scott oop. We'll see. **

**Enjoy, babes xx**

* * *

The door slams shut behind Matt, who trudges in and goes straight upstairs. He's been taking a lot of solitary walks recently. Not much else to do, Jamie reasons. The Nexus have taken care of the sorting out of the world, while they all relax and take stock of themselves.

The population has shrunk massively. Jamie's hardly understood politics in his own country, let alone in other countries, but it seems that there's no presidents, no prime ministers. The royal family were given a safe place to spend the ten years, and coming out of hiding, there's news that the queen died.

Scarlett, Matt and Richard remain in shock from the news.

Natalie Johnson, grey haired this time, as her dyes haven't been in production for years, and the British police officer keep them updated, informing them of the last ten years.

"I don't get it," says Scarlett. "There were people, normal people, who were looking after the world – presidents and stuff, right?"

Natalie shakes her head. "The USA has often been very involved in world politics. Before you were all brought to the future, the world officials were all killed. All except Jonas Mortlake," Scott's head jerks up as she mentions the name but Natalie continues, "who I believe was killed by you, Scarlett."

Scarlett frowns. "The one who…" she glances at Scott.

"Yeah, he was real proud of the whole, ruling the world thing," Scott says, unfazed.

Pedro crosses his arms over his chest. "You said he was your friend."

Scott meets Pedro's gaze. "Guy couldn't stand me," he says, and then he smiles cruelly. "Broke his finger. He was scared of me."

Matt speaks for the first time. "You broke his finger? Why?"

"'How' was what I was going for," mutters Richard.

"Want me to show you?" Scott says quickly.

Jamie rolls his eyes. "Cut it out," he hisses to Scott.

"Why?" Matt repeats.

Scott doesn't answer him, only looking at Pedro once again and then looking down.

"And so he's Susan Mortlake's…" Jamie looks to Scott.

"Kid," Scott supplies.

"Nightrise has just grown and grown, recently. Years ago, it started to take control of everything. Banks, news companies, supermarkets, schools… and Mortlake was the head of Nightrise. He owned everything." Natalie wrinkles her nose with distaste. "Few people are rich today, but Jonas was probably the richest person in the world."

"So what does that mean for us?" Richard asks. He's been looking very tired since the events of Oblivion. Jamie suspects he's not been sleeping well, mostly because when Jamie can't sleep, remembering his brother dying in his arms, and then seeing him sleeping on the bed beside him, he goes downstairs and outside in the garden. And the light in Richard's room is often on when he goes past.

"Well, nothing really," Natalie continues. "I'm just trying to help you guys get a basis for how the world became like this. We're starting to get people in positions of power – fairly, of course. Democratically, where it applies. Generally we're deferring to how things were before they – uh,"

"Got totally fucked up?" offers Matt.

"Well, yes."

"Hey, Natalie? You keep track of Alicia and Danny McGuire at all?" asks Jamie.

Natalie looks surprised at the question. "I'm afraid I don't know, Jamie. We had brief contact originally, back in 2012, but then we stopped communicating. I could try find out if they're okay, if you want?"

Jamie nods. "Please."

"Do we get electricity any time soon?" Scott asks, sounding bored. Jamie shoots him a glare, which he ignores.

"As you can imagine, the first jobs that have been reinstated are electricity generators. Internet, phone lines, communication. Italy is reeling from a volcano, small islands have totally disappeared from tsunamis, hurricanes have wrecked America. The world needs a lot of fixing, but yes, Scott. Electricity is top of the list."

Pedro rubs his eyes and yawns. They're all tired, still.

"Yeah, wonder why," Scott mutters sarcastically.

"Stop being such an ass," Jamie mutters back.

Scott ignores him again and stands up. "Are we done?"

Natalie raises a thin eyebrow. "Not exactly."

Scott doesn't care, he strides away from the table and out the front door. Jamie stands up, following him. A few steps from the door, there's Scott voice in his head, loud and angry.

**_Back off._**

* * *

Scott's furious. He stomps down the path, kicking at stones and shoving his hands deep into the pockets of the expensive jeans he still wears, pissed off at Jamie for trying to help, pissed at Natalie for… for something, Matt for being a total shit…

He was so good at being angry. Turns out all of them – fucking Richard and Holly included – visit the dreamworld whenever the hell they want. Scott's been – what, twice in his entire life?

Nah, it doesn't even rile him up. He's not angry anymore he's just… empty.

Hey, anything's better than the fear.

A tear runs down his cheek. He swipes at it angrily and considers turning around and going back. He's gonna have to, at some point. With his tail between his legs and attitude in check…

It's difficult.

And cold. He shivers. Scott's not been this cold since… since he was dying in the snow in Antarctica. Maybe it would have been better if he never came back.

He shakes the thought from his head. Best not dwell on that again.

He stops by a low wall. A cat miaows at him, from his feet. He kneels down and proffers a hand, and the cat sniffs suspiciously. It appears to deem him no threat, for it rubs its face against Scott's hand. He scratches it, and it starts to purr. A buzzing noise startles them both; the cat runs off and Scott's left on his haunches, looking around with trepidation. The buzzing continues, and grows in strength, and then the streetlights turn on.

He's bathed on orange light.

Electricity. Scott stares at the light, and he's pretty sure he should be filled with some sort of emotion.

It's the rain that leads him to eventually slink back home. He's not sure what to call it, it's almost hail but still gets him soaked to the skin. Rain that makes him long for the dry heat of home, Nevada.

They're all in the main room when he returns, of course. Scott wills no one to approach him as he trudges upstairs and into the shower. No one does, luckily. He tries to sleep after his shower, and succeeds, until he's woken by a nightmare. Banes, Mortlake, the buzzing of the streetlights shocking him, hurting him.

Scott sits upright, breathing hard and wiping sweat off his face. Water. The freedom to move, to drink and shut his eyes when he wants, that's what'll help him now.

Jamie comes into the kitchen after him. Scott sighs and leans back against the counter, bottle of water in hand.

"You okay?" Jamie asks.

"Sure," Scott replies, tired.

"Really?"

"Jamie…"

"What?" Jamie starts to get defensive. "Look, you've not seemed all right for ages."

"When the fuck were you expecting me to be okay, Jamie?" Scott snaps without meaning to. "What, after we were forced to work from age 12? When Nightrise took me, when I'd just been fucking tortured? Oh yeah – just now, after I fucking died, Jamie? What the fuck were you expecting?"

Jamie blinks and swallows hard. "Sorry," he mutters. "I didn't think-"

"No, you didn't."

Matt enters the kitchen, eyeing them both. "Everything okay?"

"Fine," the twins answer in unison.

'Yeah, clearly," says Matt.

Scott lets his shoulders slump down. "I'm going back to bed." He feels Jamie's eyes on him as he heads upstairs.

* * *

Matt waits, listening for the quiet noise of the twins' door shutting before he talks to Jamie. "Are you okay?"

Jamie shakes his head. It's all too much… all that's been going on recently, with Oblivion and Scott, the past year has totally fucked him over.

Them over.

"Maybe," Richard starts, because where Matt goes Richard will surely follow, "when the world sorts itself out again, Scott should talk to someone."

"Like who?"

"You know, a counsellor or something."

Jamie's dubious. "You think he'll talk to a shrink? He won't even talk to me."

"Maybe someone who doesn't know him will help." Richard shrugs. "It's just a thought. Might be good for all of you, in fact. All of us, even."

Matt's immediate reaction is to argue, that none of them need it – Scott excluded – but then, Richard's been looking very tired for his age. Old, even, heavy with the weight of taking responsibility for them all even when he shouldn't have.

And Matt himself - they've got normal life facing them. Normal life, after saving the world and dying.

"Just think about it," Richard says to him after Jamie's left the room. "We're all a bit screwed up."

"Isn't that what Pedro's for?"

Richard fixes Matt with a strict glare.

"Maybe," Matt eventually concedes. "Do you think it would help Scott?"

"It might do."

Matt's grateful to return to the living room, with Pedro and Scarlett, Lohan, Jamie and Holly. Being close to Pedro helps with the pain he has most of the time, and he sits down next to him. It's like a breath of fresh air, when Pedro's knee touches his, and the pain relieves.

He forgets he's in pain most of the time, really. Scott's often in pain too, Matt assumes it's something to do with the whole dying and coming back to life.

The TV is turned on. Richard had tried it out as soon as they heard they had electricity, and to all of their surprise, it works. Only the basic channels are available, but it's enough. With the return of electricity, there's the return of news. There are doctors and nurses, ready to help those who need it, and journalists ready to document it.

"Are you gonna go back to it?" he asks Richard.

"Back to what?"

Matt gestures to the TV. "You know. Journaling. Uh –" Matt blushes as Scarlett sniggers. "Journalism, I mean."

Richard chuckles. "Glad after all this time you know what it is I do. I suppose so."

"You'd make a fortune writing our biographies," Scarlett comments.

"Hey! You're not sponging off us for your living," grumbles Matt.

Richard shrugs. "That was our first deal. I'm owed your life story."

"You already took my life," Matt replies quickly. He grins, to soften the blow, but Richard's face falls. "Sorry," he mutters quickly. "Bad joke."

"I'm going for a walk. You all going to be okay?" He leaves without waiting for a response, and Matt wants to punch himself in the face.

He turns to Pedro. "Punch me in the face. Please."

Pedro frowns. "No."

"I'll do it," Scott says lightly, from the doorway, surprising them all - except Jamie, of course.

"Changed my mind," says Matt.

"Shame." Scott crosses the room and sits down on the floor next to Jamie, shivering. This is the only room that actually has any warmth – apparently electricity and television are more important than central heating. There's a fire burning in the corner of the room, throwing off heat.

Jamie and Scott are communicating in their heads. Matt can tell, the motions they give as if having a conversation, the light nudge Jamie gives Scott.

And, as Matt listens to the crackle of the fire, he falls asleep and awakens in the dream world.

Pedro's there, sitting cross-legged, nodding when he sees Matt.

"What are we doing, Pedro?" Matt asks.

Pedro considers. "Relaxing. Recuperating. We've all been through a lot and I think we deserve this rest. We need some rest."

"I guess."

"You don't think so? I don't about you, Matteo, but after this past year, I'm exhausted. And – I don't complain – but healing you all, it's hard work."

Matt bites his lip. "Yeah. Don't really give you enough credit for that," he says awkwardly.

Pedro shrugs. "It's what I do. I like to help."

"Do you want to go back to Peru?"

"No." Pedro's answer is quick and certain. "I have nothing there. No family, no friends, not really. I want to stay wherever you are."

Matt nods. "Thank you. Anything we can do in return, just ask."

"Thank you."

Pedro seems content with what's been said, but Matt has more worries. "And after we relax?"

Pedro shrugs. "Life," he says simply.

"Normal life? With none of this hanging over our heads…?"

"Yes. We deserve as much."

Matt bites his lip.

"Are you worried about Richard?" asks Pedro, taking a handful of sand and letting it run through his fingers.

"He killed me. It can't be an easy thing to handle. He said it would be good for all of us to talk to someone, a therapist or something."

"Talking helps," Pedro agrees. "Perhaps you should talk to Richard."

"Yeah." It would help, Matt thinks. To reassure Richard it was what he wanted, it was what had to be done. Hell, it saved the world. Now he thinks about it, they've not given Scott and Richard enough credit. It was the two of them who made the greatest sacrifices. "I think I need to talk to everyone. Kind of debrief, maybe."

Pedro digs his fingers into the sand.

"How are you doing, Pedro? Really?"

"I don't know… I'm scared, for what will happen in the future. This country… I don't know if I'll like it. It is cold, it's miserable. But you're my friends."

"And that's enough for you?"

"Yes."

Matt nods. It occurs to him, looking at Pedro with his skinny shoulders, his childish way of sitting, just how grateful he is. Matt picks up a handful of sand and hurls it at Pedro, who squeals when it hits him.

"Matteo…?"

Matt grins, and Pedro throws a handful back at him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi losers, it's me, another loser. Enjoy xx Cait**

* * *

Scott's whimpers wake him up. Jamie sits upright and peers around in the dark for Scott, and then he remembers he can reach out and turn on the light. Scott's eyes burst open when the light hits them, and he slides back against his headboard and wraps his arms around his knees, breathing hard. Scott's shivering, hard. Jamie gets up and takes off his worn hoody – it's too cold to sleep without a few layers – and drapes it over Scott's shoulders.

Jamie reaches out in his head, just stroking at Scott's consciousness, but as soon as he does Scott starts shaking his head.

"Jamie," he pleads quietly.

"Sorry," Jamie mutters. He's shivering now. Fuck winter. It doesn't get this cold in the deserts of Nevada.

"I'm okay," Scott says after a few minutes. To himself or Jamie, Jamie's not sure. "Want some water or something?"

"No."

Jamie licks his lip. "What was it?"

Scott's silent, wiping sweat off his face.

Jamie's about to go back to his own bed when Scott finally opens his mouth. "It was…" he swallows hard, coughing to clear his throat. "It was uh, before. With Ed. And some other stuff."

"You think about Ed a lot?"

"Now and again."

"Yeah?"

Scott doesn't elaborate. "I'm tired," he says.

It's an obvious dismissal, and Jamie creeps back to his own bed and turns off the lights. His bed feels like ice as he slips under the covers, and he's quickly shivering and praying for the bed to warm up already, when something soft hits him in the head. It's the hoody, still warm from Scott's body. Jamie smiles as he wraps it around himself.

At first, Scarlett thinks she's the only one in the dream world today. Or – tonight, rather. But she steps along to the shore, and sees one of the Tylers. Scott, she assumes. His hair is shorter. He's sitting, staring off into the black sea, arms wrapped around his knees.

"Hi," Scarlett says, drawing closer to him.

Scott looks surprised to see her. He nods, and resumes his staring.

Aside from the brief moments before Scott died, Scarlett's not really spoken to him. Ever. Of all of them, Scott's the person she feels she knows least.

Although, no time like the present.

"Looking at anything?"

Scott doesn't answer. Really, Scarlett can't blame him. Nice start, there.

"Matt says there's a library somewhere. You ever seen anything more than the beach?"

"Only been here a couple of times," Scott says.

Scarlett blinks, surprised. "A couple of times? Really?"

Scott nods. "Maybe once or twice when we were kids. And then – just before…"

When they were all here together.

"You come here a lot?" he asks, toying with a stone.

"It helped me a lot, when I was in Hong Kong. And when we were all separated after, and even before…"

Scott nods and smiles bitterly. "Yeah. Never helped me."

"Maybe you didn't need it?"

Scott scoffs. "I wish I came here more," he admits.

"I wonder why we're all coming here now," Scarlett says. "I mean, Holly and Richard? It's meant to be just for us."

Scott shrugs his shoulders. The idea doesn't seem to bother him. Scarlett tries to pull him out into more conversation, but he's not playing, so they sit in silence together, watching the rolling of the waves.

Scarlett wakes in a bad mood. The current Prime Minister is one instated by default, and now there's call for an election in a month's time. Donald Graham and Katherine Hurst are the two candidates so far, and seem to have little relation to a specific party.

"It's the 'unfuck the world' party," Richard comments idly. Scarlett thinks he's probably right.

Rather suddenly – and rather shockingly – the news story changes. _"And the identities of the five children who defeated the Old Ones, creatures responsible for the devastation of the world in the past decade – have now been revealed. Matthew Freeman and Scarlett Adams are two, both fifteen and British citizens. The three others are American twins Scott and Jamie Tyler, and a boy from Peru, only known by his first name Pedro. All of these children are fifteen years old, and highly special…"_

Scarlett's looking at pictures of the five of them, listening to run downs of the last decade. Luckily, there's no mention of their backgrounds so far, but it mentions how they've been wanted for ten years, and somehow haven't aged.

It also mentions that they've now been taken into safe housing. This place never strikes Scarlett as particularly safe – but then, the five of them together, they're stronger than ever. Do they even need a safe house? Scarlett feels it, running through her veins. Power.

She plays with it every day. Richard's starting to get annoyed when his runs are interrupted by thunder or rain, and Jamie sometimes asks for her to raise the temperature. That seems to be the one thing she has little control over.

Jamie pads downstairs, thick socks on his feet and a blanket over his shoulders. "I hate this cold," he mutters, heading into the kitchen.

Someone bangs at the door. Richard turns, reaching into the cupboard for a gun. Jamie stops and looks over to him, and together they walk to the front door. Richard looks through the peephole. He opens the door a fraction, Jamie ready to step in if necessary.

Scarlett isn't tense. Sure, it could be an arsehole supporter of the Old Ones looking for revenge, but there's Matt, Pedro, Lohan and Scott upstairs. Richard's got a gun, Jamie's ready, Scarlett's got a calm head.

Richard and the person exchange some words, and Richard starts to nod and opens the door further open. "The Nexus told me they'd be sending someone soon," he explains to them. "Delivery."

Scarlett nods. They've had a few already, food and basic supplies. There's a movement in the corner of her eye and she jumps – but it's only Lohan. She's never known anyone to sneak around so quietly.

Lohan eyes the door suspiciously, and as Richard pulls the first box inside, he rips it open and looks through the contents.

"Clean," he says after a deep inspection, and starts on the second box.

"Cool," says Jamie, when the courier leaves, and pulls a box towards himself and starts rifling through it. He pulls out a thick jumper and puts it on, followed quickly by a woolly hat.

Matt comes down, raising an eyebrow. "You look ridiculous."

"But warm."

Matt doesn't look impressed. Jamie follows him out of the room, protesting loudly. "I come from fucking Nevada, man! It gets in the hundreds in the summer all the time! I'm used to the desert, not _this_!"

"It's the middle of winter, what did you expect?"

"Better than Antarctica," adds Scarlett.

"Yeah, no shit," Jamie rolls his eyes.

Scarlett sticks her tongue out at him and flops down onto the sofa. "I'm getting a bit tired of being inside all the time."

The reason they're not strictly supposed to leave the house is what if there are other supporters of the Old Ones at large, pissed off and ready to kill. They can't stay inside forever, though. Matt's talked a few times about how he's desperate to start a real life again, Scarlett misses her routine of school, and Pedro just misses being outside. Jamie's content to wait until Matt and Scott are healed completely before they all get more freedom.

"Nathalie's over tonight," says Richard, entering the room. "And I think she's bringing Susan with her. And that means," he sighs heavily, "we're gonna have to clear this place up a bit."

Jamie looks around. Sure, it's a bit messy, but what can you expect from five teenagers and two mid twenties men?

Lohan follows Richard into the living room, walks around him and sinks down into an armchair with a book.

"Which means all of us," Richard adds, looking pointedly to Lohan.

Lohan curls a lip in disgust. "The woman is blind and the world is in disarray. Must we?"

"We must." Richard looks around. "I'll play mother then. Lohan and Jamie, sort the kitchen. Pedro and I will tidy in here – I'll get him in a minute. Jamie, would you just tidy the rest of the places, keep it all in shape? And we'll have Matt and Scott sorting through the boxes and sorting where things go."

Scarlett scowls. "The boxes? They're half sorted anyway! That's the easy job!"

"Yeah? Who died last week, Scarlett?"

Scarlett wrinkles her nose but concedes.

Jamie yells up the stairs for Pedro and Scott, who take their time coming down from their respective rooms.

It takes about an hour in total, at least for Lohan and Jamie because Lohan's of the philosophy that if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing properly.

Jamie doesn't agree, but Lohan doesn't leave room for much disagreement. They all relax back in the living room, again. Scott and Matt have sorted out the clothes equally into piles, everything else from the boxes has been put away.

Scott's fingering the tag on a new sweater, his brow furrowed.

"It's all new," says Pedro quietly. "Where did it come from?"

Richard shrugs. "The Nexus sorted it. I guess, if anyone should get brand new clothes…"

"While the rest of the world's been starving," Scott murmurs.

Matt nods his agreement.

"I don't like this," Scott says later to Jamie, pulling at the new sweater he's wearing.

Jamie shrugs. "Yeah, me neither."

"I wish…" Scott worries his lip, getting frustrated. "God, Jamie! Everything's so fucked up."

"Is it?"

Scott narrows his eyes at Jamie.

Jamie continues. "Seems like in most cases, the world's settling back. What's fucked up?"

Scott's anger dies. "I wanna start helping people. I've done some shit…"

"Not your fault," Jamie points out.

"I did it, though."

"Yeah, you did." Jamie frowns. "Scott, you died to save the world."

Scott pulls a smile. "I died to help you, Jamie. I wanted to see you again… I missed you."

There's a lump in Jamie's throat. "Yeah, you too."

"Oh god, are you seriously gonna cry again?"

"Fuck you," Jamie shoves Scott. Lightly, of course, he's still recuperating.

Scott shoves him back, much harder, right into the wall. Dick.


End file.
